The present invention relates to an electrically-powered fishing reel provided with a drive motor which rotationally drives a spool rotationally supported in a reel body.
Electrically-powered fishing reels (hereinafter referred to as the “electrically-powered reels”) are widely used for fishing like boat fishing for catching fishes in deep water.
As is well known, this kind of electrically-powered reel is constructed to perform winding of a fishing line by rotating a spool by the drive of a spool drive motor (hereinafter referred to as the “spool motor”). As disclosed in Patent Document 1, an existing type of electrically-powered reel has an electrical speed change unit which controls, by the operation of a motor output adjustment member (adjustment lever) displaceably fitted on a reel body, the amount of current to be supplied to the spool motor to adjust the output of the spool motor and vary the winding speed of a fishing line, in order to effect fishing-line winding operation corresponding to the conditions of fishing places (for example, the size and the kind of fish to be caught, fights with fishes and the number of hits. Fishermen operate the motor output operation member according to the conditions, and perform fishing-line winding operation suitable for actual fishing.
However, this electrical speed change unit still has the problem that sufficient torque may not be obtained during low speed rotation, nor may superior high-speed winding performance be obtained, according to the setting conditions of the gear ratio of a gear power transmission mechanism which transmits the drive force of the spool motor to the spool.
To solve this problem, Patent Document 2 discloses an electrically-powered reel which includes, in addition to the above-mentioned electrical speed change unit, a mechanical speed change unit in which a high-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism and a low-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism each having a different gear ratio are connected for transmission of power to each other between the motor shaft of a spool motor and a power transmission mechanism which transmits a rotation of the motor shaft to a spool, and either one of the high-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism or the low-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism is made able to transmit power so as to vary the rotational speed of the spool, by varying the rotating direction of the spool motor by the operation of a high-speed mode switch and a low-speed mode switch provided on an operation panel of a reel body.
Therefore, rapid speed change operation corresponding to conditions is needed when winding operation is to be performed in actual fishing places.
However, in the case of the electrically-powered reel of Patent Document 2 which includes the electrical speed change unit and the mechanical speed change unit, the switching of the mechanical speed change unit needs to be performed by the pressing operation of the high-speed mode switch and the low-speed mode switch, and the output adjustment of the electrical speed change unit needs to be separately performed by the displacement operation of the motor output adjustment member fitted in the reel body. Accordingly, speed change operation becomes complicated and time-consuming, so that there is the risk that a fisherman cannot rapidly find a response from a fish and appropriately cope with the movement of the fish, and allows the fish to escape.
Electrically-powered fishing reels are typically provided with speed change units so that winding operations corresponding to different conditions can be effected. A generally known example of the speed change units is a speed change unit which controls the amount of current to be supplied to a drive motor to perform adjustment to increase or decrease the motor output, thereby varying the rotational speed of a spool.
Patent Document 3 discloses a construction in which a high-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism and a low-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism are connected between a motor output section and a spool power transmission mechanism in such a manner that either one of the mechanisms can be selected to effect switching between high-speed-power transmission and low-speed-power transmission according to the rotating direction of the motor, so that electrically-powered winding operation corresponding to variations in the conditions of a fishing place can be effected. Namely, power transmission gear systems having different gear ratios are constructed so that the rotational speed of the motor to be transmitted to a spool as power, i.e., the winding speed of the spool, can be switched between two speeds, a low-speed-power transmission state and a high-speed-power transmission state, by varying the rotating direction of the motor to select either one of the high- or low-speed-power transmission states.
In the construction disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 3, as shown in FIG. 18, the low-speed-power transmission mechanism is constructed to transmit the output from the motor 314 to a transmission shaft 324 disposed on the same axis as a low-speed gear, via the low-speed gear 322 which meshes with a motor gear 320 (pinion gear) fixed to the motor shaft, and then transmits the output to the spool side via a power transmission mechanism 315 disposed on the rotating shaft 324. On the other hand, the high-speed-power transmission mechanism is constructed to transmit the output from the motor to a large-diameter intermediate gear 335 disposed on the same axis as a high-speed gear 325, via the high-speed gear 325 which meshes with the motor gear 320 (pinion gear) fixed to the motor shaft, and then transmits the output to a small-diameter intermediate gear 329 disposed on the rotating shaft 324, thereby increasing the rotational speed of the rotating shaft 324 (by the gear ratio of the large-diameter intermediate gear 335 to the small-diameter intermediate gear 329).
Namely, in the above-mentioned construction, the high-speed-driving gear transmission mechanism transmits an increased rotation to the gears (the gears 322 and 329) disposed for low-speed driving, so that mesh noise during high-speed driving becomes large and gives fishermen uncomfortable sensations and there also occur problems such as the abrasion of the gears disposed for low-speed driving and bearing sections therefor. In a loaded state during high-speed driving, mesh noise in particular becomes far larger, and large load is applied to the gears disposed for low-speed driving and the bearing sections therefor.    Patent Document 3: JP-A-2001-148978    Patent Document 1: Patent No. 2,977,978    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2001-148978